GP Austria, prove libere venerdì–20/06/2014

Lewis Hamilton dominated the opening day of practice for the Austrian Grand Prix, outpacing Formula 1 title rival Nico Rosberg by almost four tenths of a second.

Hamilton was fastest early in the session while all drivers were running on the slower soft-compound Pirelli tyres, just 39-thousandths of a second faster than his Mercedes team-mate.

But when the pair headed out for their super-soft runs, Hamilton made a big improvement to put in a time 0.747s seconds faster than Rosberg, who found only a tenth on his first flier.

Hamilton subsequently found another tenth to improve his advantage to 0.857s briefly, only for Rosberg to string together a better lap to end up 0.377s down.

Later in the session, Hamilton did have some trouble while doing long-run work, complaining of a loss of power.

Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso was third fastest, just over nine tenths off the pace, while Williams driver Valtteri Bottas, who had been the closest challenger to Mercedes on soft-tyre pace, was fourth.

Felipe Massa completed a strong showing for Williams with fifth overall, just two-thousandths slower than his team-mate.

Sebastian Vettel, who started the session late thanks to his floor having to be changed after his high-speed spin exiting the final corner during the morning session, was sixth fastest, almost 1.3s slower than Hamilton.

Jenson Button, driving the updated McLaren, was seventh fastest, just six thousandths of a second slower than Vettel and a tenth quicker than the other Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo, who also had to have a floor changed after a morning off.

Kevin Magnussen was ninth fastest, with Jean-Eric Vergne once again making it into the top 10 for Scuderia Toro Rosso.

It was a difficult session for Kimi Raikkonen, who ended up 11th fastest, half-a-second slower than team-mate Alonso, and endured a grassy moment after running wide at the last corner late on.

Adrian Sutil, who managed only nine laps this morning after a split hose led to the turbo failing, completed a full programme to end up 16th fastest.

Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson also had a better session after stopping after eight laps this morning.

Although rain threatened late in the session, it stayed away and teams were able to complete their planned programmes.

With rain expected to interrupt the later part of the session, both Mercedes drivers made use of the extra set of soft tyres made available to all drivers in FP1 to pump in some early quick laps.

Rosberg set the early pace as Mercedes trialled a titanium skid plate on the floor of the championship leader’s car, successfully producing sparks as the German navigated the undulations of the circuit.

An unspecified ‘power unit issue’ cut short the German’s initial running and meant he slipped as low as 13th in the times as other drivers improved, but he returned to the track to set what stood as the fastest time of the session with around 40 minutes to run.

Rosberg’s 1m11.295s best put him just over a tenth clear of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who pushed his Mercedes up to second in between the spells of rain that affected the final 30 minutes of running.

Hamilton had to take evasive action to avoid colliding with his team-mate in the early part of the session, as Rosberg slowed with his engine issue.

Hamilton worked down to a 1m12.255s over an initial 10-lap run, which stood as the benchmark for a long while, until first McLaren’s Jenson Button and then Rosberg broke into the 1m11s.

Fernando Alonso looked set to send Ferrari to the top of the times during the opening half-hour, but ran wide after a moment at the penultimate turn and spoiled the lap.

The Spaniard eventually went third fastest, ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams and Button, these three the only other drivers to break through the 1m12s barrier.

The Force Indias of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg headed the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and the McLaren of Kevin Magnussen, as all eight Mercedes-engined cars occupied the top nine spots on the timesheet.

Jean-Eric Vergne was the fastest Renault-powered runner, rounding out the top 10 for Toro Rosso.

The Frenchman improved in the final five minutes to displace Kimi Raikkonen (also trialling a titanium skid plate on his Ferrari) by just one thousandth of a second.

World champion Sebastian Vettel endured a difficult session on Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz’s home circuit, lapping a lowly 15th fastest and narrowly missing the barriers after a wild 720-degree spin across the grass exiting the final turn.

Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo also survived a wild trip across the grass at the same corner as he battled his way to the 13th fastest time, just behind Toro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyat and ahead of Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez, who lapped 0.004s faster than Vettel.

Lotus continued to struggle for speed with Romain Grosjean only 16th and failing to escape the 1m13s, while team-mate Pastor Maldonado was 17th quickest, just ahead of both Marussias.